UC-NRLF 


SB    5M2    072 


£7/1 


LIBERTY  AND  LABOR. 


AN  ADDRESS    BY    HON.  WILLIAM  (McKINLEY,   GOVER 
NOR  OF  OHIO,   AT  CHICAGO,  JULY  4,   1895. 


AMERICAN    LABOR     ALWAYS      PATRIOTIC     AND    LOYAL    TO    OUR    INSTITU' 
TIONS    AND    FLAG. 


"  The  hope  of  the  Republic  is  in  a  citizenship  that  is  faithful  to 
home  and  family  and  devotedly  loyal  to  country." 

Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Illinois  State  Federation  of  Labor,  of 
the  Trade  and  Labor  Assembly  of  Chicago,  and  My  Fellow- 
Citizens  : 

I  am  glad  to  join  with  you  in  observing  this,  our  one  hund 
red  and  nineteenth  National  anniversary,  that  we  may  gather 
fresh  inspirations  in  the  cause  of  human  freedom  and  equality 
and  dedicate  ourselves  anew,  in  common  with  our  fellow-citi 
zens  everywhere,  to  the  good  work  of  maintaining  the  free  Gov 
ernment  which  our  fathers  inaugurated  more  than  a  century 
ago.  No  city  in  America  has  a  better  right  or  a  better  reason 
to  rejoice  at  its  majesty  and  strength  than  Chicago,  and  no  cit 
izens  of  any  city  in  any  State  should  celebrate  it  with  more  zeal 
and  joy  than  her  working  people,  who  have  done  so  much  to 
make  Chicago  the  great  inland  metropolis  of  our  country,  whose 
marvelous  progress  is  the  admiration  and  wonder  of  the  world. 

We  are  a  Nation  of  working  people  ;  some  one  has  said 
that  Americans  are  born  busy,  and  that  they  never  find  time 
to  be  idle  or  indolent.  We  glory  in  the  fact  that  in  the  dignity 
and  elevation  of  labor  we  find  our  greatest  distinction  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  United  States  possesses  practi 
cally  as  much  energy  or  working  power  as  Great  Britain,  Ger 
many  and  France  combined,  so  that  the  ratio  of  working  power 
falling  to  each  American  is  more  than  that  of  to  two  people  of 

1*26:269 


any  other  nation.  But  with  our  improved  and  superior  machin 
ery  each  American  laborer  is  enabled  to  accomplish,  relatively, 
still  more  than  his  European  competitor.  The  American  laborer 
not  only  does  more  and  better  work,  but  there  are  more  skilled, 
intelligent  and  capable  artisans  here  now  in  proportion  to  the 
total  population  than  in  any  other  country  of  the  world.  No 
other  country  can  boast  of  so  great  a  percentage  of  producers 
among  her  instructed  population,  and  none  other  can  point  to 
so  large  a  number  of  enlightened  and  educated  citizens.  The 
census  statistics  of  1890  place  the  number  of  our  citizens  over 
ten  years  of  age  engaged  in  gainful  occupations  at  22,735,000, 
while  Sir  Michael  G.  Mulhall,  the  noted  English  statistician, 
refers  to  the  fact  that  no  other  civilized  country  could  ever  be 
fore  boast  of  41,000,000  instructed  citizens.  Indeed,  we  may 
find  in  the  able  review  of  the  industrial  activities  of  our  country 
recently  published  by  this  distinguished  authority  many  strik 
ing  texts  for  patriotic  contemplation.  He  states  very  frankly  : 

"if  we  were  to  take  a  survey  of  mankind  in  ancient  or 
modern  times  as  regards  the  physical,  mechanical  and  intellect 
ual  force  of  nations,  we  find  nothing  to  compare  with  the  Unit 
ed  States  in  this  present  year  of  1895.  The  physical  and  me 
chanical  power  which  has  enabled  a  community  of  wood-cutters 
and  farmers  to  become  in  less  than  one  hundred  years  the  greatest 
Nation  in  the  world  is  the  aggregate  of  the  strong  arms  of  men 
and  women,  aided  by  horse-power,  machinery  and  steam-power 
applied  to  the  useful  arts  and  sciences  of  every-day  life.  The 
power  that  traces  a  furrow  in  the  prairie,  sows  the  seed,  reaps 
and  threshes  the  ripe  grain;  the  power  that  converts  wrheat  into 
flour,  that  weaves  wool  or  cotton  into  textile  stuffs  and  gar 
ments;  the  power  that  lifts  the  mineral  from  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  that  forges  iron  and  constructs  railroads;  the  power  that 
builds  up  towns  and  cities — in  a  word,  whatever  force  is  di 
rected  for  the  production,  conveyance  or  distribution  of  the 
necessaries,  comforts  or  luxuries  of  life,  may  be  measured  at 
each  National  census  with  almost  the  same  precision  as  that 
with  which  the  astronomer  indicates  the  distances  of  the  heav 
enly  bodies." 

We  shall  not  enter  upon  such  a  computation  or  study,  in 
teresting  as  it  might  be,  but  you  are  to  be  congratulated  upon 
the  fact  that  in  every  field  of  progress  and  development  Chicago 
has  always  been  to  the  front  and  borne  a  most  conspicuous  part. 


Upon  this  proud  record  I  feel  that  you  are  to  be  especially  con 
gratulated,  for  I  am  sure  that  to  no  class  of  her  citizens  is  this 
great  city  so  much  indebted  for  her  marvelous  growth  as  to  her 
wage-earners,  artisans  and  working  people.  It  can  truthfully 
be  said  that  no  other  city  in  the  country  has  been  so  shining  a 
light,  so  truly  an  example  and  model  in  enterprise  and  energy 
for  so  many  people  in  so  many  States  as  Chicago.  Her  people 
have  set  the  pace  for  the  great  Northwest,  now  chasing  other 
parts  of  the  country  in  the  race  of  progress  and  supremacy.  It 
is  fitting  fhat  they  should  rejoice,  and  above  all  most  appropri 
ate  that  they  should  select  this  glad  anniversary  as  the  occasion 
for  such  jubilations. 

This  day,  forever  the  most  illustrious  in  our  history,  is 
crowded  with  patriotic  memories.  It  belongs  to  history,  and 
celebrates  that  only  which  is  grand  and  inspiring  in  history. 
Every  memory,  every  tradition,  every  event  about  it  must  in 
spire  every  patriot  with  true  homage  to  country  and  with  hope, 
courage  and  confidence  for  the  future.  It  is  the  baptismal  day 
of  freedom  ;  the  day  wrhen  the  hearts  of  Young  America  are 
proud  and  glad  and  the  hearts  of  the  old  are  young  again.  It 
celebrates  the  grandest  act  in  the  history  of  the  human  race— 
the  Declaration  of  American  Independence,  and  a  ringing  pro 
test  against  usurpation  and  tyranny  in  that  age  and  every 
other.  It  has  no  rival;  Lincoln's  immortal  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation  was  but  its  fitting  supplement  and  actual  fulfill 
ment.  Yorktown  pointed  the  way,  but  it  wTas  Appomattox  that 
marked  the  completed,  unquestioned,  glorious  realization  of 
both. 

The  Fourth  of  July  calls  us  back  to  the  most  heroic  era  of 
American  annals,  and  I  can  conceive  of  nothing  more  profitable 
than  a  consideration  of  the  origin  and  meaning  of  our  National 
anniversary  and  a  brief  notice  of  some  of  the  patriotic  leaders 
who  made  its  celebration  possible.  The  day  records  the  event 
which  gave  birth  to  the  Nation,  that  glad  event  to  humanity 
out  of  which  has  aiisen  the  great  National  fabric  that  we  now 
enjoy,  and  the  preservation  and  advancement  of  which  should 
be  our  highest  and  most  sacred  concern.  We  can  not  study  the 
early  history  of  the  country  without  marveling  at  the  courage, 


the  foresight,  the  sagacity,  and  the  broad-mindedness  of  th« 
men  who  promulgated  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
who  subsequently  launched  a  new  Government  under  a  written 
Constitution.  The  men  who  framed  the  Declaration  and  Con 
stitution  seem  now  to  have  been  inspired  for  their  great  work, 
to  have  been  raised  up  by  Jehovah,  like  his  prophets  of  old,  es 
pecially  for  the  supreme  duties  and  grave  responsibilities  he 
placed  upon  them. 

Both  instruments  were  in  part  the  work  of  the  same  men, 
and  never  was  the  spirit  and  impulse  of  a  preliminary  docu 
ment  more  apparent  in  the  completed  act.  What  illustrious 
men  constituted  the  Continental  Congress  of  1776 — and  most  of 
them  were  young  men,  whose  subsequent  careers  were  as  dis 
tinguished  and  useful  as  their  first  great  work  indicated  they, 
would  become!  Every  American  can  proudly  call  that  roll  of 
honor  without  reservation,  apology  or  omission.  From  Vir 
ginia  came  Jefferson,  its  author;  Harrison,  Nelson,  Wythe,  the 
Lees,  and  Braxton,  all  famous  in  the  annals  of  the  State,  and 
nil  freely  risking  life  and  fortune  for  their  beloved  country. 
From  Massachusetts  came  John  Hancock,  "the  outlawed  but 
uncompromising  President;"  John  Adams,  "the  Colossus  of 
Independence,"  and  his  equally  patriotic  kinsman,  Samuel 
Adams,  "  the  Father  of  the  Revolution."  Near  them  sat  Ben 
jamin  Franklin,  the  resourceful  and  wise  philosopher,  the  elo 
quent  Edward  Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  and  those  tireless 
and  talented  advocates  of  freedom  and  union,  Thomas  McKean 
and  Caesar  Rodney,  of  Delaware.  In  another  group,  perhaps, 
were  the  four  brave  men  who  in  later  years  sat  with  Washing 
ton  to  frame  and  sign  the  Constitution — Roger  Sherman,  of 
Connecticut,  George  Read,  of  Delaware,  and  George  Clymer  and 
James  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania.  Near  them  were  those  sweet  - 
spirited  and  able  counselors  and  orators,  Arthur  Middleton,  of 
South  Carolina,  and  Richard  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia.  Then 
there  were  John  Witherspoon,  of  Princeton  College,  a  disciple 
of  Christ  and  the  Christian  doctrine  of  fcivil  liberty;  John 
Penn,  the  sturdy  patriot  of  North  Carolina;  Lyman  Hall,  of 
Georgia;  Chase,  Paca,  and  Stone,  of  Maryland;  Bartlett  and 
Whipple,  of  New  Hampshire;  Floyd  and  Livingston,  of 


York;  Hopkins  and  Ellery,  of  Rhode  Inland,  and  the  young 
and  ardent  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton. 

Nor  must  we  omit  to.  mention  two  of  this  distinguished 
body  of  patriots — Dickinson,  the  eloquent  "Pennsylvania 
Farmer,"  and  his  colleague,  Robert  Morris,  " the  Financier  of 
the  Resolution,"  whose  energy,  self-sacrifice  and  devotion  were 
as  unbounded  as  his  integrity  and  probity  were  unimpeachable. 
It  is  related  that  after  he  had  already  involved  himself  to  the 
extent  of  $1,500,000  in  behalf  of  the  Government,  he  said  to  a 
Quaker  friend:  "I  want  money  for  the  use  of  the  Army." 
"What  security  can  thee  give?  "  "My  word  and  my  honor," 
replied  Morris.  "Robert,  thou  shalt  have  it,"  was  the  prompt 
reply. 

Equally  as  useful  and  perhaps  as  influential  as  most  of  the 
members  was  the  efficient  Secretary  of  the  Continental  Con 
gress,  Charles  Thompson,  who  for  fifteen  years  wras  the  faith 
ful  recorder  of  all  its  proceedings,  and  who  both  witnessed  and 
directed  the  signing  of  the  Declaration.  To  him  we  are  in 
debted,  perhaps  more  than  to  any  other,  for  the  enrollment  and 
preservation  of  the  historic  parchment  itself. 

These  were  the  men,  and  men  like  them,  who  founded  our 
Government.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  most  fortunate  that 
they  were  a  truly  representative  body,  not  only  as  to  the  States 
and  sections  of  the  country,  but  in  the  character  of  their  callings 
and  pursuits  in  life.  The  ountry  was  new  and  but  little  de 
veloped,  yet  these  men  were  familiar  with  and  represented  in 
themselves  every  condition  of  American  life  and  society.  Many 
of  them  were  men  of  great  experience  in  public  affairs,  ''the 
architects  of  their  own  fortunes,"  who  generally  had  risen  de 
spite  great  odds,  and  were  in  no  sense  adventurers  or  hot-headed 
revolutionists. 

They  built  not  for  themselves  alone,  but  for  posterity. 
Their  plans  stretched  far  out  into  the  future,  compassing  the 
ages  and  embracing  mankind.  Not  alone  for  the  present  wrere 
their  sacrifices  and  struggles,  but  for  all  time  thereafter.  Not 
for  American*  colonists  only,  but  for  the  whole  human  race, 
wherever  men  and  women  are  struggling  for  higher,  freer,  and 
better  conditions.  It  was  as  the  yearning  of  the  soul  for  eman- 

5 


cipation.  It  was  the  cry  of  humanity  for  freedom — freedom  to 
think,  speak,  and  act  within  the  limitations  of  just  and  proper 
laws,  which  should  be  of  their  own  .making.  If  it  should  prove 
ineffectual,  all  was  lost  and  tyranny  and  oppression  would  be 
perpetual.  It  was  the  mighty  struggle  of  the  ages  for  the  free 
dom  of  man,  for  the  equal  opportunity  of  all  mankind..  It  in 
volved  those  "inalienable  rights,  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness;"  and  it  was  no  fault  of  its  author  that  the  shack 
les  of  slavery  were  left  upon  any  human  being  in  the  Republic. 
What  it  fell  short  of  he  fully  comprehended,  and  he  wrote  as  he 
designed,  intending  that  the  Declaration  should  be  forever  the 
protest  of  a  Nation  against  every  form  of  tyranny,  oppression, 
and  bondage  known  to  men. 

Liberty  and  conscience  triumphed,  and  because  of  that  tri 
umph  we  have  enjoyed  for  now  more  than  a  century  the  freest 
and  best  Government  in  the  world.  The  liberty  which  was  se 
cured  by  .so  great  a  sacrifice  was  not  the  liberty  of  lawlessness, 
not  the  liberty  of  licentiousness,  but  liberty  for  law,  and  law 
always  for  liberty,  and  both  for  all  the  people.  It  was  not  lib 
erty  for  a  class  merely,  but  liberty  and  political  equality  for  all 
the  people;  not  a  struggle  for  landed  proprietors,  for  men  of 
ealth  and  gentle  birth,  but  liberty  for  the  masses,  the  poor  as 
well  as  the  rich,  the  low  as  well  as  the  high.  It  was  not  a  vic 
tory  easily  won — indeed,  the  wonder  is  that  it  was  won  at  all. 
It  was  a  contest  waged  by  weak  and  struggling  Colonies,  beset 
by  enemies  at  home,  as  well  as  opposed  by  the  most  powerful 
government  in  the  world,  "the  proud  mistress  of  the  seas," 
their  old  Mother  Country,  strongly  intrenched  in  power  and 
with  the.  wealth  of  centuries  at  command. 

It  took  seven  years  of  war  to  make  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence  respected  as  more  than  the  idle  words  of  a  few  rest 
less  leaders.  Yet  that  great  Proclamation  of  Freedom  fell  short 
of  what  Jefferson  intended  that  it  should  contain.  It  is  an  in 
teresting  fact  that  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  and  some  of  those  associated  with  him  deeply  deplored  the 
slave  trade  which  was  then  actively  engaged  fn  by  several  of 
the  Colonies.  It  is  a  fact  worth  cherishing  that  in  the  original 
draft  by  Jefferson  he  charged  the  King  with  willful  participa- 


tion  in  the  slave  trade.  Here  is  the  passage  which  was  omitted, 
and  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  striking  of  the  wonderful 
document: 

"He  [King  George]  has  waged  cruel  war  against  human 
nature  itself,  violating  its  most  sacred  rights  of  life  and  liberty 
in  the  persons  of  a  distant  people  who  never  offended  him,  cap 
tivating  and  carrying  them  into  slavery  in  another  hemisphere, 
or  to  incur  miserable  death  in  their  transportation  thither.  This 
piratical  warfare,  the  opprobrium  of  infidel  powers,  is  the  war- 
.  fare  of  the  Christian  King  of  Great  Britain.  Determined  to 
keep  open  the  market  where  men  should  be  bought  and  sold,  he 
has  prostituted  his  negative  for  suppressing  every  legislative 
attempt  to  prohibit  or  to  restrain  this  execrable  commerce.  And 
that  this  assemblage  of  horrors  might  want  no  fact  of  distin 
guished  die,  he  is  now  exciting  those  very  people  to  rise  in 
arms  among  us  and  to  purchase  that  liberty  of  which  he  has  de 
prived  them  by  murdering  the  people  on  which  he  also  obtruded 
them;  thus  paying  off  former  crimes  committed  against  the  lib 
erties  of  one  people  with  crimes  which  he  urges  them  to  commit 
against  the  lives  of  another." 

This,  alas,  was  left  out  of  the  otherwise  perfect  Declara 
tion  of  Independence.  What  a  world  of  trouble  and  sorrow  it 
would  have  saved  to  posterity  had  it  remained!  What  a  blot  it 
would  have  spared  the  fair  fame  of  this  Republic,  and  what 
thousands  of  precious  lives  would  have  been  saved  if  the  great 
truth  had  become  a  part  of  the  Charter  of  our  Liberties,  and  its 
spirit  have  been  ingrafted  upon  the  Constitution  in  1787!  It  is 
doubtful  whether  the  Declaration  could  have  been  adopted  if  it 
had  not  been  eliminated.  Some  of  the  Colonies  would  doubt 
less  have  withheld  their  assent,  because  some  of  them,  or  some 
of  the  people  dwelling  therein,  were  engaged  themselves  in  the 
unholy  traffic .  It  was  the  best  and  all  that  could  be  done  at 
the  time;  more  was  not  required  then,  and  need  not  be  deeply 
deplored  now.  Jefferson  reluctantly  yielded  the  point,  but  the 
passage  remains  as  a  permanent  record  not  only  to  his  broad 
philanthropy  and  exalted  patriotism,  but  to  his  marvelous  sagac 
ity  and  foresight  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  noblest  of  American 
statesmen.  We  can  but  reflect  that  what  was  in  the  hearts  of 
Jefferson  and  many  of  his  associates  more  than  one  hundred  and 
nineteen  years  ago,  continued  to  stir  the  hearts  of  mankind  and 
that  men  could  not  slumber  until  slavery  was  totally  extin- 


guished.  It  took  nearly  a  hundred  years  of  National  agitation, 
and  finally  a  war  which  cost  the  country  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  brave  men  and  millions  of  the  public  treasury  to  put  into 
the  Constitution  of  the  country  what  Jefferson  wanted  to  put 
I  from  the  first  into  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  what  seemed  the  almost  insupera 
ble  obstacles  to  the  final  victory  which  inaugurated  free  gov 
ernment  on  this  continent.  In  the  limitations  of  an  address 
like  this  it  is  impossible  to  give  them  even  a  casual  review.  . 
There  was  one  great  menace,  however,  that  seems  to  have  re 
ceived  little  attention  at  the  time  which  impresses  me  deeply, 
and  may  possess  some  interest  to  you,  since  it  brings  into  prom 
inence  the  noble  character  of  Washington  and  his  agency  in  se 
curing  the  blessings  we  now  enjoy.  It  was  after  hostilities  had 
ceased,  although  no  public  proclamation  of  peace  had  yet  been 
made.  Washington  had  been  urged  to  accept  a  kingship,  but 
had  sternly  rebuked  every  suggestion  of  dictatorship  on  his 
part.  The  Army  was  at  Newburg  without  pay,  almost  without 
food,  and  suffering  in  rags.  Washington  best  describes  its  con 
dition  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  from  which  I  read: 

"Under  present  circumstances,  when  I  see  a  number  of 
men  goaded  by  a  thousand  stings  of  reflection  on  the  past  and 
anticipations  of  the  future,  about  to  be  turned  on  the  world, 
forced  by  penury  and  by  what  they  call  the  ingratitude  of  the 
public,  involved  in  debt,  without  one  farthing  to  carry  them 
home,  after  spending  the  flower  of  their  days  and  many  of  their 
patrimonies  in  establishing  the  freedom  of  their  country  and 
suffering  everything  this  side  of  death — I  repeat  that  when  I 
consider  these  irritating  circumstances,  without  one  thing  to 
soothe  their  feelings  or  dispel  their  prospects,  I  can  not  avoid 
apprehending  that  a  train  of  evils  will  follow  of  a  very  serious 
and  distressing  nature.  You  may  rely  upon  it,  the  patriotism 
and  long  suffering  of  this  Army  is  well-nigh  exhausted,  and 
there  never  \vas  so  great  a  spirit  of  discontent  as  at  present." 

He  stood  between  the  Army  and  Congress,  sympathizing 
deeply  with  his  brave  comrades  in  their  deplorable  condition, 
and  yet  in  their  presence,  and  in  all  his  relations  with  them, 
upholding  Congress  and  finding  good  excuses  for  its  failure  to 
provide  for  the  Continental  Army.  The  greatest  discontent  was 
prevalent,  and  a  manifesto  was  issued  and  circulated  among  the 


officers  and  men  which  was  well  calculated  to  move  them  to  acts 
of  disorder  and  violence.     This  was  its  strong  language: 

"  Faith  has  its  limits  as  well  as  its  temper,  and  there  are 
points  beyond  which  neither  can  be  stretched  without  sinking 
into  cowardice  or  plunging  into  credulity.  If  this  be  your 
treatment  while  the  swords  you  wear  are  necessary  to  the  pro 
tection  of  your  country,  what  have  you  to  expect  from  peace, 
when  your  voice  shall  sink  agid  your  strength  dissipate  by  divi 
sion,  when  those  very  swords,  the  instruments  and  companions 
of  your  glory,  shall  be  taken  from  your  sides  and  no  remaining 
mark  of  your  military  distinction  is  left  but  your  infirmities 
and  scars?  Can  you  consent  to  retire  from  the  field  and  grow 
old  in  poverty,  wretchedness  and  contempt?  Can  you  consent 
to  wade  through  the  vile  mire  of  despondency  and  owe  the  rem 
nant  of  that  life  to  charity  which  has  hitherto  been  spent  in 
honor?  If  you  can,  go,  and  carry  with  you  the  jest  of  Tories, 
the  scorn  of  Whigs,  and  what  is  worse,  the  pity  of  the  world. 
Go,  starve,  and  be  forgotten." 

"  Suspect  the  man,"  it  continued,  referring  directly  to 
Washington,  "wrho  would  advise  to  more  moderation  and  longer 
forbearance.  Tell  Congress  that  with  it  rests  the  responsibility 
of  the  future;  that  if  peace  returns  nothing  but  death  shall  sep 
arate  you  from  your  arms,  and  that  if  the  war  continues  you 
will  retire  to  some  unsettled  country  to  smile  in  turn  and  mock 
when  their  fear  cometh." 

This  was  the  situation  that  confronted  Washington.  These 
words  of  discontent  and  mutinous  import  were  easily  caught  up 
by  many  of  the  brave  but  suifering  men,  the  heroic  men  whom 
he  had  borne  on  his  great  heart  for  seven  long  years.  He  de 
clared  this  to  be  the  darkest  day  of  his  life;  no  defeat  in  all  the 
years  of  the  Revolution  had  borne  so  terrible  an  aspect.  He 
beheld  the  half-naked,  starving  Army  about  to  be  led  into  mu 
tiny,  and,  perhaps,  all  the  horrors  of  a  bloody  and  desperate 
civil  war,  whose  chief  incentives  would  be  rapine  and  plunder. 
What  was  he  to  do  in  this  great  emergency? 

A  meeting  was  called  without  his  knowledge  or  consent  to 
take  action.  He  appreciated  its  gravity;  he  realized  the  meet 
ing  was  fraught  with  direct  consequences  to  the  Army  and 
the  country.  It  might  destroy  all  that  had  been  accomplished 
in  the  long  struggle.  He  quickly  determined  his  course.  He 
issued  a  perempto^  order  postponing  it  for  four  days,  and  pre- 


pared  an  address  that  for  force  of  utterance,  lofty  patriotism, 
and  unselfish  devotion  to  the  cause  for  which  they  had  jointly 
fought  has  tome  scarcely  an  equal  in  the  literature  of  the  Revolu 
tion.  He  attended  the  meeting;  it  was  held  on  March  15,  1783. 
It  was  the  trying  moment  of  his  life,  as  well  as  a  crucial  test  in 
the  fate  of  the  new  and  unsettled  Government  of  the  Republic. 
He  had  for  those  brave  men,  as  he  Jpoked  upon  them  assembled 
in  the  Temple,  only  love,  gratitude,  and  sympathy.  He  un 
rolled  his  manuscript — forgetting  for  the  moment  his  specta 
cles,  which  had  become  indispensable  to  him — but,  pausing,  he 
took  them  from  his  pocket,  and  before  adjusting  them  remarked, 
in  words  full  of  emotion: 

"These  eyes,  my  friends,  have  grown  dim  and  these  locks 
white  in  the  service,  yet  I  never  doubted  the  justice  of  my 
country/' 

Referring  to  the  manifesto  he  said: 

"My  God,  what  can  this  writer  have  in  view  in  recom 
mending  such  measures?  Can  he  be  a  friend  of  the  country  and 
the  Army?  No!  He  is  plotting  the  ruin  of  both.  Let  me  con 
jure  you  in  the  name  of  our  common  country,  as  you  value  your 
own  sacred  honor,  as  you  respect  the  rights  of  humanity,  as  you 
regard  the  military  or  National  character  of  America,  to  ex 
press  your  utmost  horror  and  detestation  of  the  man  who  wishes, 
under  any  specious  pretense,  to  overturn  the  liberties  of  our 
•country,  and  who  wickedly  attempts  to  open  the  floodgates  of 
•civil  discord  and  deluge  our  rising  empire  in  blood." 

After  urging  them  to  exhibit  the  same  unselfish  patriotism, 
the  same  devotion  to  duty  that  had  always  characterized  them, 
and  await  with  patience  justice  from  the  country  they  had 
served  so  faithfully,  he  said: 

"  By  thus  determining  and  acting  you  will  pursue  the  plain 
;and  direct  road  to  the  attainment  of  your  wishes;  you  will  de 
feat  the  insidious  designs  of  our  enemies,  who  are  compelled  to 
resort  from  open  force  to  secret  artifice,  and  you  will  give  one 
more  distinguishing  proof  of  unexampled  patriotism  and  pa 
tient  virtue  rising  superior  to  the  most  complicated  sufferings, 
and  you  will,  by  the  dignity  of  your  conduct,  afford  occasion  for 
posterity  to  say,  when  speaking  of  the  glorious  example  you 
have  exhibited  to  mankind,  '  Had  this  day  been  wanting,  the 
-world  had  never  seen  the  last  stage  of  perfection  to  which  hu 
man  virtue  is  capable  of  attaining.' ' 

10 


Such  an  appeal  from  such  a  man  could  not  be  unavailing. 
The  effect  was  instant;  his  inspired  words  were  magical.  His 
address  finished  he  walked  out  of  the  Temple  alone,  leaving  his 
words  of  wisdom  with  them  for  such  unrestrained  consideration 
and  action  as  they  might  see  fit  to  take.  The  officers  at  once 
adopted  resolutions  of  thanks,  reciprocating  the  affectionate 
expressions  of  their  Commander-in-Chief,  and  indignantly  repu 
diating  the  wicked  manifesto.  Civil  war  was  at  that  moment 
averted,  and  did  not  again  so  seriously  confront  the  country  for 
nearly  eighty  years. 

This,  I  repeat,  is  a  day  of  patriotic  memories,  and  perhaps 
another  allusion  to  the  War  of  Independence  may  prove  of  some 
interest  to  you.  On  April  18,  1783,  a  little  more  than  a  month 
after  the  scene  just  described,  Washington  issued  his  order  an 
nouncing  that  hostilities  had  ceased.  Let  me  read  it  to  you: 

"HEADQUARTERS,  NEWBURGH,  April  18,  1783. 
"  The  Commander-in-Chief  orders  the  cessation  of  hostilities 
between  the  United  States  of  America  and  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  to  be  publicly  read  to-morrow  at  twelve  o'clock,  at  the 
New  Building,  and  the  proclamation,  which  will  be  communica 
ted  herewith,  to  be  read  to-morrow  evening  at  the  head  of  every 
regiment  and  corps  of  the  Army.  After  which  the  chaplains 
with  the  several  brigades  will  render  thanks  to  Almighty  God 
for  all  His  mercies,  particularly  for  His  overruling  the  wrath  of 
man  to  His  own  glory,  and  causing  the  rage  of  war  to  cease 
among  the  nations." 

We  can  \vell  paiise,  even  at  this  distant  day,  and  offer  our 
thanksgiving  to  that  same  power  for  His  mercies  to  us,  and  for 
the  singular  manner  in  which  He  has  preserved  this  Government 
from  then  until  now  against  the  "  wrath  of  man  to  His  own 
glory/'  and  our  most  glorious  advancement. 

Following  this  order  there  was  a  great  demonstration  of  joy 
among  the  soldiers,  and  even  the  gallant  officers,  who  but  a  few 
weeks  before  had  been  filled  with  such  great  discontent,  now 
alike  joined  in  singing  with  excited  and  jubilant  air  that  grand 
old  anthem,  "Independence,"  then  so  popular,  but  long  since 
forgotten  and  lost : 

•11 


"The  States,  O  Lord,  with  song  and  praise, 

Shall  in  Thy  strength  rejoice; 
And,  blest  with  Thy  salvation,  raise 

To  heaven  their  cheerful  voice, 
And  all  the  continent  shall  ring, 
Down  with  this  earthly  king; 
No  king  but  God." 

Interesting  as  these  incidents  may  be  to  all  who  would  by  a 
correct  understanding  of  the  past  wisely  improve  the  future,  we 
can  review  them  no  further.  The  past  is  secure;  the  present 
and  the  future  are  our  fields  of  opportunity  and  duty.  Those 
who  have  gone  before  did  well  cheir  part.  Shall  we  be  less  brave 
and  patriotic  in  the  performance  of  our  duty? 

What  a  mighty  Nation  has  been  erected  upon  the  immortal 
principles  of  the  great  Declaration  the  signing  of  which  we  cel 
ebrate  to-day!  We  have  increased  from  thirteen  to  forty-four 
States;  from  3,000,000  to  nearly  70,000,000  people.  We  have 
arisen  from  slavery  to  freedom;  from  what  some  men  believed  a 
mere'  confederacy  of  States,  to  be  dissolved  at  pleasure,  to  a 
mighty,  eternal  Union  of  indivisible,  indestructible  States;  from 
an  agricultural  community  to  the  foremost  Nation  of  the  world 
in  all  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  manufactures,  in  agriculture,  and 
in  mining.  Liberty,  labor  and  love  have  accomplished  it  all. 
Labor  has  been  dignified  and  has  vindicated  the  truth  that  the 
best  citizen  of  any  community  is  its  most  useful  citizen.  All 
men  have  equal  rights  guaranteed  by  our  Constitution  and  laws, 
and  that  equality  must  be  forever  preserved  and  strengthened  and 
everywhere  recognized.  We  are  all  Americans,  we  are  all  sov 
ereigns,  equal  in  the  ballot,  and  that  citizen  is  the  best  who  does 
his  best;  who  follows  the  light  as  God  gives  him  to  see  the  light; 
who  concedes  to  all  the  races  of  mankind  what  he  claims  for  him 
self;  who  rigidly  respects  the  rights  of  others;  who  is  ever 
willing  and  ready  to  assist  others;  who  has  the  best  heart, 
the  best  character,  the  greatest  charity  and  sympathy,  and 
who  withholds  from  none  of  his  fellow-men  the  respect,  privi 
leges  and  protection  he  claims  for  himself.  This  is  the  citizen 
ship  that  is  the  need  of  every  age  and  to  which  we  must  educate 
ourselves  and  those  who  are  to  come  after  us.  This  is  the  citizen 
ship  that  is  the  hope  of  the  Republic,  its  security  and  perrna- 

12 


neney,  which  is  the  hope  of  mankind,  our  own  best  hope;  a  citi 
zenship  that  is  faithful  to  home  and  family,  devotedly  loyal  to 
country,- that  encourages  the  truest  and  broadest  National  spirit, 
the  most  thorough  and  genuine  Americanism,  that  is  ever  mov 
ing  onward  and  upward  toward  the  highest  ideals  of  modern  civ 
ilization;  a  citizenship  that  respects  law  and  constituted  authority, 
that  loyally  upholds,  guards  and  supports  the  Government  of 
which  it  is  a  part,  in  whose  administration  it  has  a  voice,  and 
that  rests  upon  the  free  choice  and  consent  of  a  majority  of  the 
people.  These  were  the  characteristics  which  possessed  the  souls 
of  the  men  who  landed,  in  the  Mayflower,  who  resisted  British 
oppression,  who  promulgated  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence.  These  are  the  elements  of  character  which  gave  us  a 
Patrick  Henry,  a  Franklin,  a  Washington,  a  Jefferson,  an  Adams, 
a  Jackson,  a  Grant,  and  which  produced  a  Lincoln,  whose  name 
has  enriched  history,  and  whose  great  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion  has  blessed  mankind  and  glorified  God. 

It  was  this  character  of  citizenship,  and  the  aim  to  secure  it, 
that  animated  the  men  who  fought  all  the  battles  of  the  Republic 
from  the  Revolution  to  the  great  Civil  War;  that  struck  slavery 
from  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  that  obliterated  caste 
and  bondage  and  made  freedom  universal  in  the  Republic.  The 
greatest  battle  which  the  Nation  has  fought  has  been  to  se 
cure  to  labor  the  right  to  do  with  its  skill,  energy  and  industry 
what  it  chooses,  through  lawful  pursuits  and  by  pea'ceable  means, 
-ever  obedient  to  law  and  order,  and  respectful  of  the  rights  of  all; 
that  has  given  labor  the  unquestioned  right  to  use  what  it  earns 
in  its  own  way  in  the  elevation  of  home  and  family;  that  has 
taught  labor  to  give  conscience  its  full  sway,  and  that  has 
inspired  labor  to  improve  wisely  every  opportunity  which  makes 
possible  the  realization  of  the  highest  hopes  and  best  aspirations 
of  the  human  race. 

Peace,  order  and  good  will  among  the  people,  with  patriotism 
in  their  hearts;  truth,  honor  and  justice  in  the  executive,  judicial 
and  legislative  branches  of  the  Government,  Municipal,  State  and 
National;  all  yielding  respect  and  obedience  to  law,  all  equal  be 
fore  the  law,  and  all  alike  amenable  to  law — such  are  the  condi 
tions  that  will  make  oui<  Government  too  strong  ever  to  be  broken 

13 


by   internal  dissensions  and   too  powerful  ever  to  be  overturned  by 
any   enemy  from,  without.     Then  will  the  Government  of  the  peo- 

)le,  under  the  smiles  of  heaven,  bless,  prosper,  and  exalt  the  peo- 

>le  who  sustain  and  support  it! 

In  America  no  one  is  born  to  power;  none  assured  of  station  or 
command  except  by  his  own  worth  or  usefulness.  But  to  any  post 
of  honor  all  who  choose  may  aspire,  and  history  has  proved  that 
the  humblest  in  youth  are  frequently  the  most  honored  and  power- 
iful  in  the  maturity  of  strength  and  age.  It  has  long  been  demou- 
'.strated  that  the  philosophy  of  Jefferson  is  true,  and  that  this,  the 
land  of  the  free  and  self-governed,  is  the  strongest  as  well  as  the 
best  Government  in  the  world.  We  accept  no  governmental  stand 
ards  but  our  own;  we  will  have  no  flag  but  the  glorious  old  Stars 
and  Stripes. 

Workingmen  of  Chicago,  let  me  adjure  you  to  be  faithful 
to  the  acts,  traditions,  and  teachings  of  the  fathers.  Make 
their  standard  of  patriotism  and  duty  your  own.  Be  faithful 
to  their  glorious  example.  Whatever  the  difficulties  of  the  pres 
ent,  or  problems  of  the  future,  meet  them  in  the  same  spirit  of 
unflinching  loyalty  to  country,  the  same  devotion  and.  love  for 
home  and  family,  the  same  acknowledgment  of  dependence 
upon  God  that  has  always  characterized  those  grand  men.  Therein 
rest  your  greatest  prosperity  and  happiness  and  the  surest  at 
tainment  of  your  best  and  dearest  ambitions.  Have  confidence 
in  the  strength  of  our  free  institutions  and  faith  in  the  justice 
of  your  fellow-citizens,  for,  as  Lincoln  often  said,  "there  is  no 
other  hope  in  the  world  equal  to  it." 

In  conclusion,  let  me  offer  the  advice  and  exhortation  of 
one  who  spoke  on  an  occasion  somewhat  similar  to  this  in  the 
Centennial  year  1876  in  the  city  of  Boston,  the  venerable  Robert 
C.  Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts,  in  his  masterly  Fourth  of  July 
oration  and  one  of  his  last  great  public  addresses.  He  had  lived 
through  nearly  the  whole  period  of  our  National  existence  and 
had  been  an  active  participant  in  public  affairs  and  a  close  stu 
dent  of  our  history  and  people  for  many  years.  With  this  train 
ing  and  all  the  wisdom  of  experience  and  age,  he  profoundly 
observed : 

"If  I  could  hope  without  presumption  that  any  humble  counsels 

14 


of  mine  on  this  hallowed  anniversary  would  be  remembered  be 
yond  the  hour  of  their  utterance  and  reach  the  ears  of  my  coun 
trymen  in  future  days,  I  could  not  omit  certainly  to  reiterate 
the  solemn  obligations  which  rest  on  every  citizen  of  this  Repub 
lic  to  cherish  and  enforce  the  great  principles  of  our  Colonial 
and  Revolutionary  fathers — the  principles  of  liberty  and  law, 
one  and  inseparable — the  principles  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union.  I  could  nojLQimt  to  urge  every  man  to  remember  that 
self-government  politically  can  only  be  successful  if  it 
be  accompanied  by  self-government  personally;  that  there 
must  be  government  somewhere;  and  that  if  the  people 
are  indeed  to  be  sovereigns  they  must  exercise  their  sov 
ereignty  over  themselves  individually  as  well  as  over  them 
selves  in  the  aggregate — regulating  their  own  lives,  resist 
ing  their  own  temptations,  subduing  their  own  passions 
and  voluntarily  imposing  upon  themselves  some  measure  of 
that  restraint  and  discipline  which,  under  other  systems,  is  sup 
plied  from  the  armories  of  arbitrary  power — the  discipline  of 
virtue,  in  the  place  of  the  discipline  of  slavery.  I  could  not 
omit  to  caution  them  against  the  corrupting  influences  of  intem 
perance,  extravagance  and  luxury;  I  could  not  omit  to  call  upon 
them  to  foster  and  further  the  cause  of  universal  education;  to 
give  a  liberal  support  to  our  schools  and  colleges;  to  promote 
the  advancement  of  science  and  art  in  all  their  multiplied  divi 
sions  and  relations,  and  to  encourage  and  sustain  all  those  noble 
institutions  of  charity  which  in  our  own  land,  above  all  others, 
have  given  the  crowning  grace  and  glory  to  modern  civilization." 

7.t  would  to  me  be  an  honor  beyond  any  other  to  have  been 
the  author  of  these  sublime  sentiments.  I  can  and  do  adopt  them, 
and  beg  you  to  heed,  cherish  and  teach  them,  as  a  rule  of  action 
to  yourselves  and  to  your  children.  American  citizenship  thus 
molded  will  perpetuate  freedom,  exalt  the  freeman,  and  distin 
guish  the  Republic  beyond  its  past  glorious  achievements. 


15 


Gaylamount 
Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gaylord  Bros.,  Inc. 

Stockton, C 
T.  M.  Reg.U.S.F 


14  DAY  USE 

j  RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall 


SEP  85 1967 


^H-fr200T 


AN17'69-1PM 


LD  2lA-60m-2  '67 
(H241slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


